Lab Rework
by DancingLikeWater
Summary: If the story ended in Jareth's favor, how would it go? Maybe something like this.


Sarah looked around in fear. What had happened? Where was Toby? She heard the familiar cry and sighed with relief as she went to his room to check on him.

"He's alright," she thought. "Nothing happened to him. Jareth kept his word."

She had been happy for once to see her parents that evening. Seeing them meant that the world was what it should be once more, and that meant everything to her after spending so much time in a place that might as well have been made of shifting sands. And when the next morning came, she was still happy to see her parents there, even if the woman who called herself her mother could hardly be such a thing. That is, until she heard an ear shattering sound.

"Oh...oh my god!" cried her mother after a scream. She could bring herself to do no more than continue screaming like that. Accompanying her screams were sounds of laughter.

"What is it dear?" her husband asked her, trying to calm her down.

"The baby! Look!"

She pointed at Toby, who was now in two differen places: His body in his crib and his head upon the floor. It was rather horrific to see. The strange thing about it, though, was that his head was still laughing, and his body was still kicking and playing as most babies tend to do. Sarah was not so horrified as her mother, as she was used to sights like this by now. She was, however, annoyed and to some extent fearful. She was certain this had something to do with Jareth, as she knew no other explanation for a baby's severed head still being able to laugh. Her parents rushed to take Toby to the hospital to get a doctor's opinion. Sarah, however, stayed behind. She would have to have another showdown with her old adversary. She wondered how that might be, though, seeing as Jareth had been destroyed. She knew he had, she'd seen him. She went to her room and called out to Jareth, knowing no other way to enter the labyrinth.

Sarah made her way through the labyrinth which was now strangely deserted and devoid of nearly all its previous inhabitants. It all seemed rather dead, dark and dim. She had no difficulty in reaching the center this time, both because she knew the way and because there was little to stop her. She entered the castle and went to the throne room, expecting to find it in dissaray. Instead what she found was a rather happy Jareth and an equally happy Toby sitting on his lap. Jareth looked up at her and smiled. Sarah stared back at him, confused and horrified.

"What are you doing? Give me back my brother!"

"No," came the smug reply. He then turned his attention back to Toby. "No, of course not...you're much happier here, aren't you?"

Toby gave a gurgle and a laugh in reply.

"There, you see Sarah? He's well taken care of. You've nothing to worry about."

"But you were supposed to give him back. That's what the deal was."

"Yes, if you solved the labyrinth."

"But I did!"

"No, you did not."

"I got through to the center and I did it on time. And you don't hold the power anyway, so you have to give him back!"

"Are you so certain?"

"...If that's not how it is, then why did you put me through all of this? If you were just going to cheat in the end."

Jareth lifted Toby up a bit and bounced him up and down on his lap.

"You remember that the clause was to solve the labyrinth, yes?"

"Of course! You said it enough times."

"But you still don't understand the labyrinth."

"I understand everything about it. Nothing is what it seems, so I have to think clearly about everything and-"

Jareth laughed and tossed Toby up in the air, catching him on the way back down and cuddling him.

"You do not understand."

Sarah watched him, horrified that he would harm Toby.

"What are you doing?"

Jareth stared at Sarah. "You of all people should know what it is you see."

Of course she knew what she she saw. A horrible king toying with a baby as if it were a rag-doll.

"Give him back. You'll hurt him!"

"And yet you don't see."

Jareth stood, still carrying Toby.

"You have had your time to solve the labyrinth, and now it is over. Be happy Sarah, and forget it all."

Before Sarah could blink, she found herself standing in the middle of her family's living room once more. She heard voices in the kitchen and went there. The doctors, of course, did not understand the strange phenomena surrounding Toby, though they did say that he was still alive. Her mother sobbed over poor Toby and was comforted by her father. She picked Toby's doppleganger up, head and all, and carried him up the stairs.

"You're going to be a lot of trouble," she said. The doppleganger snickered at her. "I have to find some way to fix this..."

Sarah pulled open the drawer of things she had locked away and looked through her book. She never did find an answer. And every so often when she glanced over to her vanity table, she would see that small blue statue and she could swear that he was grinning at her.


End file.
